Bears men's lacrosse rally falls short against Golden Knights, 8-7

Thursday, March 14, 2013 - 7:28 am

POTSDAM, N.Y.—Clarkson University raced out to a 7-0 lead, but needed a last second save to secure an 8-7 win over the SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (1-1) at Maxcy Turf Field on Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore midfielder Matthew Gold led the Golden Knights with four goals and junior midfielder Robbie Ashlaw paced the Bears with three goals and an assist.

Junior midfielder Jeff Sciera opened the scoring at the 11:10 mark of the first quarter and senior midfielder Matt McCabe doubled the score 58 seconds later. Gold notched the next three goals and sophomore Corey Herrington capped the early run at 4:09. Potsdam called timeout after the final goal and the Bears responded. Potsdam's defense and senior goalie Stefan Sloma shutdown the Golden Knights for the next 27:58.

After a scoreless second quarter, Gold connected with Herrington for a man-up goal and a 7-0 lead with 6:11 remaining in the third. Senior midfielder Pat Morrill finally got the Bears on the board at 4:47, igniting a 5-0 run. Junior midfielder Derek Frost set up junior attack Rob Kunz for a man-up goal just over three minutes later Potsdam trailed 7-2 after 45 minutes.

Junior midfielder Jeff Seager scored another man-up goal with an assist from Ashlaw just over midway through the final quarter. Morrill notched his second on a high shot with 5:35 left. Ashlaw capped the run with a helper from Seager at 3:33 to make it a 7-5 contest. Golden Knight junior attack Peter Goss appeared to put Potsdam away with a goal at 1:54, but the Bears answered quickly. Just 43 seconds later, Ashlaw cut the gap to 8-6 and with 34 seconds left he walked in on Clarkson senior goalie Ryan Cole to close to within one. Bears junior midfielder Jared Flath scooped up the ensuing faceoff, muscled his way in front of the goal and fired a shot. Cole reacted quickly at point blank range, getting a stick on the ball and covering up the rebound before it crossed the goal line with 17 seconds left to preserve the victory.

Cole finished with 14 saves for Clarkson. Sloma stopped a career-high 19 shots in a strong performance for the Bears. The Golden Knights outshot Potsdam 39-34, but the Bears held a 31-25 edge over the final three quarters, including a 14-7 advantage in the final 15 minutes. Clarkson finished with a 36-23 advantage in ground balls and 13-6 in faceoffs. Both teams were 2-4 in extra-man opportunities.

Potsdam looks to bounce back with a non-conference battle at Harwick on Saturday at 1 p.m.